


Home

by Fabulanon



Series: Young Warrior [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Depression, Domestic Violence, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Inhumans (Marvel), Sibling Rivalry, Sisters, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 02:06:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16630796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabulanon/pseuds/Fabulanon
Summary: Nicole gets reunited with someone she'd never expected to see again. At first, the team is really happy for her, but they quickly find that there's more history between them that either of them will admit. What will happen when Nikki's past catches up with her? And will she be able to trust anyone again?





	1. Anastasia

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys! I just wanted to make sure that you know, that this is part 2 of my "book". If you've missed part 1: please read that first, since it will introduce some of the original main characters. 
> 
> One warning up front: If you haven't read the tags, this part will deal with some heavy themes. So be careful if you're easily disturbed by these things, or have personal experiences with them.
> 
> The full story is also posted separately. However, since it's practically 4 different stories, all morphed into 1, I decided that I could also upload it as separate stories, since, even though they might reference the events that happened in different parts, you can read the separate parts apart from each other. All parts kind of have another genre as well, so maybe it's better this way.
> 
> Little side note: I am thinking of writing a fifth part as well, but that's a work in progress.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikki gets reunited with someone she'd believed to be dead.

Time passed, and seasons went by, as Nikki finally became a full-fledged part of the team. After Leah had fought for her a million times, Coulson finally gave in, and let them both come on missions. They proved to be very useful, especially when they were put together. It was like they were psychic, as they always fought in perfect harmony.

After their last victory, Fitz, Simmons, Daisy, Leah, and Nikki decided that maybe it was time to relax a little, so they left the base for a lovely day of their own. They started off just walking through the streets, enjoying the happy chatter of the people surrounding them, and sitting down on terraces for some ice cream. “I always enjoy spending time with grown up people.” Nikki suddenly said to everyone’s surprise. “Yeah, they give me free food. Meer voedsel, meer beter.” “Translation!” Daisy demanded immediately. Nikki didn’t look up from her ice cream. “More food, more better.”  
Leah cut in. “Reminds me of point number 12: ‘She likes getting fat, just like Leah.’”          
Everyone looked confused, but Nikki explained.           
“I was feeling down once, so Leah made me a little list with all the good things about me. But it’s all things like this, so it mostly just makes me laugh.”   
“Wait… so you _want_ to be overweight?”        
“Well… the more you weigh, the harder you are to kidnap. Stay safe! Eat cake! Besides, I’m not fat. I’m like a pancake. Round and delicious...”  
Everyone laughed.                              
“Okay, so, Nikki, obviously, you speak Dutch and English. Do you speak any other languages?” Simmons asked.     
“Well, I can fluently understand Flemish, but that doesn’t count.”  
“Why wouldn’t that count?”             
Nikki looked at her, and said in a very matter-of-fact tone, “Because I’m Dutch. Oh, and I also speak some French.”                 
Daisy laughed. “Oh. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”                 
Nikki looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know what that means, do you?”  
“Actually, no. What _does_ it mean then?”        
Leah laughed, and winked at Nikki.  
“Well, I’d love to, Nick.”      
Nikki looked back at her, mischievous. They looked at each other for a while, clearly speaking without words.    
“You make such a lovely couple, you should definitely kiss.” Fitz said mockingly, clearly referencing the pressure they had put on him and Simmons. Leah looked up at him.      
“Well, is it really your best friend if your family does not think you’re dating?”  
Nikki took a deep breath and shoved her now empty coup of ice cream to the middle of the table. “Everyone. Quick! Pull up your feet!” Slightly shocked, they all did as she said. “What why?” Fitz asked. But Nikki just started to giggle. “Because the maturity of this conversation might need to get under it.”              

“So, Nick,” Daisy begun after a while. “You’ve been with us for, what, 6 months now, and Leah, 4 for you? What do you guys think of the team so far?” they looked up at her, a sassy, rebellious look in their eyes, as they answered together. “That’s classified.” “Oh, come on!” Fitz said. “That’s not fair!” They walked on through the city, talking, and laughing. Nikki and Leah were walking hand in hand. But suddenly, Nikki let go, stopped, and stared down a dark alleyway. “Nick, you coming?” Leah asked. But Nikki approached the alleyway. “I thought I heard something.” She said carefully. “Of course you heard something, it’s a dark alleyway, let’s move on, it could be dangerous.” But Simmons had barely finished her sentence when they all heard a scream. Nikki darted into the alleyway, and the rest, hesitantly, followed her. They ended up at a dead end, a young woman, wearing rags, sitting against the wall, shielding her face. In front of her was a man, holding a knife. “This is my alleyway. You’re trespassing on my territory, and now you will pay for it!” The woman shouted with her hoarse voice. “No please! I didn’t know!” Nikki didn’t wait any longer and charged the man She jumped on his back and tried to pull the knife out of his hands. He was surprised, but not for long. It all happened in a flash, but after that, Nikki was leaning against the wall, bleeding heavily from a giant slash in her belly. “You dare attack a man from behind? Foolish girl, coming here, all alone.” He screamed angrily. “Who said she was alone?” Leah said, as she had now moved past the corner, the rest was close behind. Leah used her powers to blind him before Daisy rushed in and knocked him out. “Are you completely out of your mind? You can’t just do something like that!” Simmons screamed, as the rushed over to Nikki to inspect her injuries. “Don’t you tell me what I can or cannot do. And don’t worry. I’m all right, it’s just a cut. Go check on that woman.” She grunted as the hoisted herself up again. Daisy moved over to the woman, who was still covering her face and cowering against the wall. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you. We’re friends.” She held out her hand and pulled the woman back to her feet. She could feel the bone in the skinny hand. This woman was starving. “Thanks” She stammered, as she now looked directly at Daisy. There was a moment of silence, until Nikki finally looked the woman in the eye. “Ana?”

Everyone fell silent. “Nick…?” the woman stammered, clearly confused. Nikki ignored her cut, and walked over to the woman, wrapping her into a big hug, and bursting into tears. “Ana? Is that really you?” Fitz was the first you speak. “Wait, you two know each other?” he asked. Nikki let go of the woman and said. “Guys. This is Anastasia. My sister!” She turned back to Anastasia. “Ana, I thought you were dead! How are you here?” She quickly spoke a few sentences in Dutch that no one could understand, as her sister replied in slightly shorter ones. In the corner they could hear the man grunting. “Okay, lovely family reunion, but maybe we should leave before that guy wakes up.” Daisy said quickly, and they all left the alley, back to the base.

Nikki sat next to Anastasia, while Simmons was checking if either of them was badly hurt. “Nikki, I’m afraid you’re going to need some stiches. What the hell were you thinking?” But Nikki did not respond. She just held her sisters hand in silence, as she examined her. Her clothes were filthy and torn. Her skin cracked and dry, and she was so skinny that you could see the structure of her bones beneath her skin. “Have you just been living on the streets this entire time…?” She managed to say with a crooked-up voice. But Anastasia didn’t say anything. Daisy stood up and held out her hand to her. “Come on, I’ll get you cleaned up, and then we can find a place for you where you can get some sleep okay?” “She can sleep in my room.” Nikki said quietly, and Daisy and Anastasia walked out of the room together. In the doorway she turned around and said. “Leah, are you coming? I think Nikki has enough on her mind right now, she needs to rest.” Leah nodded, and followed them out the room, leaving just Simmons, Nikki, and Fitz. Nikki closed her eyes as agent Simmons was finishing the stiches. She had resisted for a moment, as she had always hated needles, but the impression that this day had left on her, made her too exhausted to fight Simmons. “You look like her.” Simmons said kindly to break the silence that had fallen over the room. Nikki looked up, a tiny smile on her face. “Thanks, but she’s not my actual sister. I was adopted. Did I never tell you that?” Fitz and Simmons looked at each other. “No… I don’t think you did.” Fitz said, confused. “Well, I was. I was just a baby though. I grew up in that family, so it doesn’t really change all that much. Even though we’re not actually blood-relatives, I love her with all my heart.” “I’m sure you have a lot to talk about then. I’m done here, you can go. But do give her some rest first, I can’t imagine what she’s been through.” Nikki nodded, and left the room.

That night, she and her sister were sitting alone in her room. Everyone else had given them some time alone, as they didn’t want to intrude on these personal matters. Anastasia had been given some clean clothes, and most of her cuts and bruises had been treated. She already looked a lot better, although she was still very weak. “So.” She finally spoke. Her voice was still soft, but a lot stronger now. “When are we going to escape?” Nikki stared at her, completely taken aback. “What?”               
“They kidnapped you, didn’t they? For your powers? I saw them take you away! I followed you all the way to the US to rescue you!”  
Nikki shook her head. “No Ana, it’s not like that.” She fell silent for a moment. “The people that took me… I managed to escape from them. That was Hydra. This, where we are now, this is S.H.I.E.L.D. They help and protect people like me. They helped me escape those other, bad, people, and then they gave me a home. They’re good people, Ana, we can trust them. They are like my family now.”  
“Family…” Ana whimpered softly. “Mum… Dad… They’re really gone, aren’t they?” Nikki stayed silent for a while. “You’re not.” She then said, looking at her sister. She pulled her into a big hug. “How did you get out of that house?” She asked quietly.           
“I wasn’t downstairs. I was listening from the staircase, I don’t think they even knew I was there… They shot mum and dad, and then moved onto the kitchen. I just managed to climb out of the window before they set the house on fire. You remember that little, broken down wall beneath your bedroom window? I guess it finally became useful…”     
“I’m so glad that you’re okay! I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. Living on your own, on the streets this entire time, trying to find me!”                 
“I just wanted to make sure that you were safe. But apparently, I shouldn’t have worried so much, because you’re part of a secret organisation now!”    
“Yeah, they’re pretty awesome”               
Silence fell between the two again. “I love you Ana.” They fell asleep together, and Nikki felt as though a hole inside of her had been filled once more.


	2. Concealed trauma's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is wrong with Nikki, as she suddenly throws a wave of anger towards Simmons. Is there something that she's been hiding?

Anastasia stayed for the next couple of weeks. She was gradually getting better and stronger and was getting along with the team just great.  
“Wait. So, you graduated University, with honours, when you were…”  
“15!” Anastasia shouted happily. “My parents were so proud.  
She was sitting in the living room with Fitz and Simmons. They were the two people with whom she had bonded the most, since it was clear that her intelligence rivalled theirs. “Another biologist.” Fitz said mockingly. “Don’t you two go ganging up on me!” They laughed. “Come on Fitz.” Simmons said. “You still have Nikki. She might not have graduated, and she might not exactly be an engineer, but it’s close.” They talked on for a while, until Nikki walked in. She had a huge smile on her face. “Hey guys! Whatch’a doing?”              
“Hey Nick.” Fitz said. “We were just talking. Your sister is great!”  
For just a fraction of a second, it looked like Nikki’s eyes grew darker, but she kept smiling, so everyone just brushed it off. “So, guys. I made something really cool, and it’s finally finished. You want to come and see?” She asked happily. “Yeah, sure. We’ll be over in just a sec. Anastasia was just telling us about het university-life.” For a second time, Nikki’s eyes grew dark. This time, a little while longer. “But… I have been working on this for so long! You’ll love it! I swear! Just come with me!” Anastasia looked up at her. “Nikki, they said they’d come over in a second, calm down.” She turned back to Fitz and Simmons and continued the conversation. Nikki didn’t leave, but instead just watched as they continued talking. She just stood there for a moment while no one even noticed that she was still there. Then she left the room.

No one saw Nikki for the rest of the day. Not that that was anything to worry about on itself, because Nikki had the tendency to just disappear from time to time. She would go to her room and meditate, or read, or just do something on her own, in silence. Everyone just gave her the space they thought she needed. The first person to look for her, was Daisy. She had just had another disagreement with Coulson. They had those a lot. And maybe he was right, he was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., naturally there were things that he couldn’t just tell anyone, but it still wasn’t fair. She walked up to Nikki’s room. She could always cheer everyone up and was always in for a good talk. Daisy knocked on the door. “Nick, you in there?” There was no answer. She knocked again. But still no answer. Daisy slowly opened the door and looked inside the room. It took her a moment to process what she saw. The room was trashed. Things knocked from the desk, and her bedsheets lying in the middle of the room. Chair and lamp knocked over, and pieces of wallpaper ripped off. Everything to show that a struggle had taken place here. And there, in the middle of the room, was Nikki. Blood under her fingernails, a huge bruise on her head, and some slashes on her arms. She was lying on the floor unconscious. It took a moment for Daisy to take in the scene, before she ran out of the room, looking for help.

Nikki was lying on a hospital bed when she woke up, her cuts and bruises had been treated. “Good! You’re awake!” Simmons said. Nikki felt her head and got up. Every part of her body aching. She buried her face in her hands for a moment, before wiping her hair out of her face with her right hand. Simmons was looking at some monitors that were displaying her vitals. When Nikki looked around the room, she could see that Daisy was also standing there, looking at her expectantly, but she said nothing. After a while, the silence broke, and Daisy asked: “So? Aren’t you going to tell us who attacked you?” Nikki looked tired and confused, and with a soft crooked voice she asked, “Wait. Why? What happened?”           
“Well I found you in your room, knocked out on the floor, with the entire room in ruins, and blood everywhere. So, what the hell happened? Are they still in the base? Because maybe it’s a good idea to catch them!”         
Nikki sat up a little straighter. “No… guys… I’m fine. I’m just a little tired, but no-one attacked me.”                 
The door opened, and Anastasia walked through. “Nikki. Are you all right? I heard what happened, came as fast as I could.” She walked to the bed, clearly planning to sit down next to her, but when she saw her face, she suddenly stopped. She waited for a moment, hesitating, before she sat down on the table that was standing elsewhere in the room. Daisy looked at her.         
“Wait, who told you that Nikki was here? I thought it’d be better if we kept this quiet until we caught who did this. I didn’t tell anyone…”  
“Yeah, well, it’s her sister. I felt like she had to know that this had happened...” Simmons replied.  
“Wait, why?”        
Simmons suddenly turned around and opened her mouth, but didn’t speak for a while, as she was trying to choose her words carefully. “Nikki…” She began slowly. “Is there… anything that, you would like to talk with someone about…?” Nikki looked at her. Her face was calm, but her eyes gave away that clearly, she did not like this question.  
“What do you mean?” She asked.    
“Before you passed out… Did you feel… weak, or, like you couldn’t breathe?”      
Daisy looked up at her, surprised. “Wait, you’re thinking panic attack?”                
Nikki jumped up, ripping the needles of whatever things had been monitoring out of her arm. “What is your problem? I said that I’m fine!” After saying this, she regretted pulling out all the needles, as her face contorted in pain for a moment. Then she continued, slightly calmer, but clearly still angry. “Don’t you go playing these mind games on me, you’re no psychologist, for fuck’s sake, you’re not even a real doctor! Just someone who happens to have a PhD in biology! Don’t you dare go snooping around in my head! None of you! That’s none of your goddam business. Leave me alone!” And with that, she stormed out the room, leaving everyone bewildered behind. Anastasia looked at the door, her expression unreadable, before she left the room as well without saying anything. She went in a different direction than her little sister had gone, but she clearly had a place in mind she wanted to be.  
“What the hell was that?” Daisy asked concerned. She looked at agent Simmons expectantly.        
“I don’t think she was attacked. It just doesn’t make sense. No one has seen anyone come in, or leave the base, and no one inside would have any reason to attack Nikki like that.” She started to clear up the mess that Nikki had left behind. “Besides, I found tremendously excessive amounts of cortisol and adrenaline in her blood. Whatever happened, it freaked her out, and she does not want to talk about it.” Daisy looked at her in surprise. “So, you’re saying that she trashed her room herself?” She was trying to make it sound like a joke, but Simmons didn’t laugh. “Yes. I do.” There was a moment of silence. “Have you ever seen her show any real emotions? Apart from those heat-of-the-moment tantrums she sometimes throws, I have never actually seen her angry, or sad, or afraid. It’s unnatural.” “Well, she showed quite a lot of anger just now!” Daisy said confused. But Simmons brushed her away. “Because she couldn’t keep it in any more. The question is, why did she try so hard to?”

There was a knock on the door, but before Nikki could answer, Anastasia had already entered the room. Nikki had been clearing up some of the mess, but the room still looked awful. She did not in any way show that she had acknowledged that Anastasia entering the room, but she knew that she had. “Hey Nick… need any help?” She asked carefully. Nikki froze for a second, before dropping the pillow that she was holding back on the ground. “I made such a mess again, didn’t I?” She said quietly, without turning around to face to her sister. “Are you all right?” But Nikki dismissed her. “Get out...” She said quietly. Anastasia didn’t move. “Nikki… we talked about this-” But Nikki had turned around, and repeated “Get out!”, now with a lot more force behind her voice. She pushed her sister back and slammed the door in her face. But before Anastasia could open it again, she could just hear the key turn in the lock.

She stayed locked in her room for the rest of the day, and strangely, her sister did the same. Multiple times the team had tried to get them out, but neither of them responded. Even Leah could not get through to Nikki.  
“Has she ever behaved like this before?”       
“Not that I know of. But then again, I’ve only known her slightly longer than you have, and while being captured and tortured in a Hydra base, strange behaviour is the norm.”

The next day however, everything suddenly seemed to have returned to normal. “Good morning!” Nikki said happily as she entered the kitchen to get some breakfast. It seemed like nothing had changed. Simmons looked up in surprise. “You look like you’re feeling better than yesterday. Are you okay?” Nikki smiled at her. “Nothing that a good night’s sleep can’t fix! Sorry about that, though, I didn’t mean to yell at you.” She gave a kind smile.

“Oh, that reminds me, I was going to show you something, wasn’t I?” She said later. Fitz looked up. “Oh, right, sure, let’s see then. She took them to her room and opened a drawer of her desk. She pulled out something, but it suddenly sprung to life, and jumped out of her hands and ran over to Fitz and Simmons. “Derp!” She shouted quickly. It stopped dead in its tracks, giving Fitz and Simmons a chance to see what it was: a small robot that looked somewhat like a small puppy. “Voice recognition?” Fitz asked fascinated. Nikki nodded, smiling. Simmons laughed. “And you named it Derp?”  
“Yes, of course. Look at him and tell me that that’s not a little derp. Of course, if you don’t like it, we can always change it. I just have to record a new name then.”         
Fitz looked at her surprised. “Wait, what do you mean?”           
Nikki smiled. “Well, word goes that you really want a dog, Leo. I was bored, so I thought I’d make you one. I’ve been working on this for a while now. Of course, it’s nothing like what you can do, but I did my best.” She looked down at the dog. “Derp. Spin!” She said, and the dog followed the command. “Derp. Play dead!” And the robot did as she said. “Nikki, that’s amazing.” Simmons said happily. Nikki laughed, and gave a little mischievous smile. “Wait ‘till you see this. Derp. Activate protocol 209!” The robot jumped in the air, tucked in its legs, and hovered above the ground for a while before it made a loop and landed back on the ground. “Ever seen a dog do that?” She said, laughing. And they stayed in the room for a while, watching the robot do its little tricks.

The rest of the day, Nikki behaved just like she always had, and like nothing had happened. Anastasia did just the same. On the surface, it looked like everything was all right, but of course, it wasn’t. And occasionally, that showed. It seemed like there was tension between the two sisters, but in a strange way, not necessarily aggressive. Apart from that, occasionally, Nikki would freeze for a couple of seconds, sometimes in the middle of a task, or conversation, staring blankly into space, before continuing like nothing had happened. When this was pointed out to her, she denied everything. Other moments, she would suddenly close her eyes, and shake her head a couple of times, as though trying to shake some negative thought, sometimes while even grabbing her head or gasping for air. Of course, she denied this as well. In the meantime, Anastasia kept a close eye on her sister. She knew something, but it was hard to tell what that was. And she too, denied that anything was wrong.


	3. Darkness in the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikki gets a panic attack in the middle of the night, and Anastasia sings her back to sleep...

At night, however, the severity of the situation was revealed again. Daisy was woken in the middle of the night, by what sounded like screaming, coming from Nikki’s room. She rushed in to check, only to find Nikki next to her bed, with her hands in her hair, screaming and crying. Leah was already sitting next to her, looking panicked. A little orb of light was hovering above them, illuminating the room.            
“I don’t know what to do!” Daisy rushed over to them, and also tried to calm Nikki down, but she didn’t respond in any way. “I don’t think she can hear you” Simmons said from the doorway, also awoken by the screams. She and Fitz also walked in the room, but Nikki didn’t seem to notice it. “Nikki. Calm down. Talk to me. What happened? It’s not real, it’s just a bad dream. Let it go.” Simmons said calmly, but Nikki still didn’t respond. “I don’t know what to do!” She said to the rest. “This is not really my area of expertise.” They heard more footsteps, which stopped just in the doorway. Anastasia was standing there, holding a little music box. She didn’t say anything but placed the music box on a little table next to the door. She then rushed over to the desk in the room, pulling open several drawers, before closing them again. She then walked over to whatever kind of cupboards were standing in the room, clearly searching for something. Finally, she found what she had been looking for, and retrieved a tiny teddy bear, the size of her hand, from one of the cupboards. She then walked back to the music box, and pressed play. Soft music filled the room. Then, Anastasia started to sing, quietly. Her voice filled with pain and sadness, and not as beautiful as Nikki’s was, but still soothing and kind.

_“How could I have been so cruel?_  
_How could I’ve been so unkind?_  
_Because now you can’t bare the weight_  
_Of those dark thoughts on your mind.”_

She had walked over to her sister and sat down next to her. Daisy, Fitz, and Simmons had stood up, giving the two sisters some room, as Anastasia continued to sing.

_“And the stars weep tonight_  
_As you can’t hold onto the light_  
_It’s fading…_  
_But I’ll stay by your side_  
_To give you the love_  
_That you have been denied…”_

She took the little stuffed animal, and carefully placed it into Nikki’s arms. Nikki continued to scream and cry, but for the first time she moved slightly. As her hand carefully enclosed it. Anastasia put her hand upon the hand with which Nikki was holding the toy but didn’t make any other physical contact.

_“Because all through my childhood_  
_I shone like the sun_  
_As they said I was the perfect child._  
_They loved me and kissed me_  
_My father and mother_  
_I still feel the warmth of their beautiful smiles_

_Why was I so selfish?_  
_Why couldn’t I see_  
_That you were not treated like me?”_

She moved her hand over her sisters’ face, wiping away her hair, and cupping her face with her hand. Nikki had stopped screaming, but she was still crying. She had opened her eyes and looked her sister in the eyes.

_“My shadow, it darkened_  
_The core of your heart_  
_And through all those years_  
_slowly tore us apart”_

She pulled her in for a hug, as Nikki buried her face in her shoulder. Anastasia softly continued to sing.

_“Sleep now my dearest_  
_Oh, my darling light_  
_You can have your rest now_  
_That you’re safe inside_  
_And I’ll stay by your side until my lullaby_  
_Fills you up, and you can’t deny…_  
_That you are worth so much more than you’ve been told_  
_Now let go of that pain inside…”_

Anastasia moved her head away from her sister, and stared blankly into the room, as tears formed in her eyes as well. Clearly, this wasn’t Nikki’s story. It was hers.

_“I remember the times_  
_You showed me the signs_  
_That you couldn’t keep up with life…_  
_But I only saw all that was my own_  
_And you slowly died in the darkness alone.”_

She pulled her sister even closer, as she continued to sing through her tears.

_“Sleep now my dearest_  
_Oh, sweet sister mine_  
_Please rest your mind_  
_Now that you’re safe inside_  
_And please forgive me_  
_For those times that I teased you_  
_And the times that I was so blind…_

_Please hear my apologies in this silent night_  
_You never knew how much I loved you_  
_But the only blame for that is mine…”_

She stopped singing for a while, as the music continued. Another wave of sorrow rushed over Nikki, and she curled up in a ball again, and laid down on the floor. The sudden movement caused Anastasia to let go of her, but she quickly picked her younger sister up again, and held her in her lap, as she sang the next couplet, pain, and sorrow behind her voice.

_“The home where you grew up_  
_Cold, fearful and forlorn_  
_I wasn’t there for you_  
_You faced it all alone…_  
_I’ll pray that in these dark times_  
_Peace will be your fate_  
_I’ll now tell you that I love you_  
_But am I not too late?”_

The last few sentences, Anastasia had sung in little more than a whisper, and Nikki calmed down again. A couple of tears still rolled over her face, but she had grown silent. Anastasia could feel her body relax as he was holding her. With slight effort, she managed to scoop her sister up from the floor, and gently put her back into bed, softly tucking her back in. Nikki’s eyes were still slightly open, as she looked upon her sister, who was now sitting beside her bed, and softly stroking her hair.

_“I’ll stay by your side tonight_  
_Like the sister you deserve_  
_The monsters can't hurt you anymore_  
_Now Sleep…”_

Nikki slowly closed her eyes and fell back into a peaceful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering: Yes, I did write that song myself, though it is based on some other songs. There used to be another song, but I swapped it out, since I didn't write that one. I just had this lying around, and put it in. Tell me what you think!


	4. Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The untold past between Nikki and Anastasia is finally revealed, and proves to be worse than anyone could have imagined...

Anastasia softly kissed her sisters’ forehead, before carefully getting up. She quietly walked to the door and gestured to the rest to follow her. When they got back to her room, and she had closed the door behind her, she finally spoke. “If this ever happens again, I found where she keeps her tokens. Get one of them to her and give her my lullaby. That’s the best way to help her.” Daisy looked at her, surprised and confused. “Wait, I get that she’s your sister, but how did you figure out how to do this? Has this happened a lot before?” Anastasia nodded sadly, before sitting down on the edge of her bed. “I am… _was_ the only one who knew about this. I’ve had to do this a couple of times before. It still breaks my heart, but I have to. It’s my fault anyway…”                 
“This was a panic attack, probably triggered by some bad dream. How can you blame yourself for that, you weren’t even in the room?”  
Ana pulled up her legs, and rested her chin on her knees, staring blankly into the room. “Because I knew what the nightmare was about. She never told me, she probably won’t even remember this tomorrow morning, but it’s not hard for me to guess what she saw.” She let out a sad sigh and begun to talk.

“I had a wonderful childhood. I got so much praise and love from our parents. With my top marks, and all my friends, and later my amazing boyfriend, everything was just perfect, and my parents were so proud of me. And they showed it. They were so kind, and nice, and did everything they could to make me feel loved and appreciated. I was showered with gifts every time I had another great mark at school.”

“They sound like wonderful people.” Fitz said. But Anastasia’s eyes grew sad.

“No… They weren’t…” She reached under the mattress and pulled out a pile of paper in Nikki’s handwriting. Clearly some sort of improvised diary. “My sister, she too had good marks, but never quite as great as me. She got in to university at such an early age, and that is such an amazing accomplishment. But I graduated with honours, at the same age that she was when she got in. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, I was always better. And because of that, she was always the disappointment, never good enough for our parents. And yes, she had her own qualities, her own talents that I can’t even dream of having, but hers are far more abstract, and less academic. And that just didn’t mean anything to them… The better that I did at school, the more love and praise I received, but I didn’t realise how hard I was making it for her to keep up. And the more I was admired and complimented, the more she was beaten and yelled at… And I did nothing…”

She had to gasp for air as she started to cry. She looked down at the diary that held the memory of all this pain, both in words, and the tear- and bloodstains that could be seen upon the paper. Leah turned around and put her hands in her hair. She was clearly furious and tried very hard to keep her anger under control. But Anastasia continued.

“After a while, she just broke. She was socially extremely undeveloped, which caused her to have such immense trouble making friends. She got overly self-critical, blaming herself for everything, and feeling that she had to be completely perfect if she wanted to be worth something. She had to cope with depression almost her entire life, and she had to do it alone… And I was just too blind to see how I just completely overshadowed her…”

_Two years ago…_  
_The door opened, and Anastasia entered the house. She hung up her coat and walked to the living room. She dropped her bags onto the floor, and ran over to her parents, who were standing in the hallway. Her father wrapped her into a big hug, and spun her around, filled with joy._  
_“Daddy!” She yelled happily._  
_Now her mother hugged her, before kissing the top of her head, and taking her hand._  
_“Come here, honey. There’s some people who want to see you.”_  
_She took her daughter to the living room, which was filled with people. Friends and family, who all started clapping as soon as they entered the room._  
_“And there she is! The pride of the family!”_  
_“Only 15 and already a degree in biology!”_  
_“What a beautiful accomplishment!”_  
_Compliments like this kept coming for a while, as everyone congratulated her, before her father finally picked her up, and put her on a chair. The entire room sang for her._

_Sometime later, Nikki quietly entered the room. She looked around at the crowd, before walking to the table to help herself to some cake. But she was interrupted._  
_“Where did you come from?” She heard in a hushed tone, behind her. She left the cake and turned around to face her father._  
_“I’m sorry, dad. I just wanted some cake…”_  
_“And why should you think that you’ve earned that cake?”_  
_“The results for the school play came in today. I got the lead role!” She smiled, but her father didn’t return it._  
_“The school play. Well, well, I suppose that makes it clear where your priorities lie. Your marks are still mediocre at best, but you do have the time for that such nonsense!”_  
_“My grades aren’t mediocre. I got a 7 last week!” Nikki gritted her teeth._  
_“For a test that your sister easily aced! Now get out of the room, you are embarrassing Anastasia!”_  
_For a moment. Nikki looked like she was going to protest, but she just nodded, and quietly left the room._

_The party went on for quite a while after that, and Anastasia was having the time of her life. But suddenly, she could hear commotion from outside the room. She peeked through the door and saw her little sister. She had been standing outside the door, but their parents had found her._  
_“Are you still here?” Her father asked angrily._  
_“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset anyone!”_  
_“You are wasting your time with this behaviour. This way your grades will never be better. You can't do anything right! You can never be like our daughter.”_  
_Nikki looked down at the ground but kept her face straight. She was doing everything she could to prevent herself from crying. She tried to walk away, but her mother suddenly stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, twisting back her arm painfully._  
_“Don’t you dare walk away from us, you insolent child!”_  
_Nikki tried to pull her arm back, but her mother was stronger._  
_“Please… it hurts…” she begged, but her father stepped in and grabbed her by her throat, choking her._  
_“I’ll show you pain!” He yelled, and he slapped her across her face. He impact was so great that she fell to the ground. The floor shook as she came down. Her father looked down upon her. Coolly he said:_  
_“Now you can leave. Get back to your homework.”_  
_Nikki nodded and hurriedly rushed back to her room._

_That night, Anastasia quietly entered her room. Nikki was lying on her bed, her face buried in her pillow, and bleeding scars all over her arms._  
_“Hey, Nick. I saw that mum and dad gave you a hard time… are you all right?”_  
_But she had barely said anything when Nikki jumped out of bed and started shouting at her._  
_“A ‘hard time’? You have no idea what you are talking about, you goddamn little princess! Get the hell out of my room!”_  
_Anastasia’s expression changed, and anger flickered in her eyes._  
_“Well I’m sorry!” She said sarcastically. “I’m sorry that I even bothered to be nice to you. Maybe mum and dad were right about you this afternoon, you ungrateful brat! This was supposed to be a wonderful evening! One that I gave up, just to check in if you were alright, and this is what you’re giving me? Thank you very much, because you just ruined my entire day!”_  
_Nikki looked back at her, furious. She didn’t say anything else, but she stepped forwards, pushed her out of the room, and slammed the door in her face. Anastasia now stood behind the closed door of her sisters’ room, and she could hear her screaming and crying on the other side. She shot one last look at the door, before turning around, and entering her own room, and leaving her sister to fight for herself…_


	5. Story of the two sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anastasia's story continues, as she tells the team about the worst day of her life.

Anastasia closed her eyes firmly, and put her hands over her mouth, as she remembered the events of that day. She looked horrified. She sat there for a moment, as she cried. Fitz, Simmons, and Daisy sat down, looking horrified by the story, but Leah unleashed her anger into throwing a pillow across the room with full force. It knocked over a lamp, but she didn’t seem to care. “Who the hell would that!” She screamed, furious. “I swear, those people are lucky they’re dead, or I would really like to have a ‘talk’ with them!” She looked around at Anastasia, and the anger faded when she saw the expression on her face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…” But Anastasia nodded. “No, you’re absolutely right.” She took another deep breath and continued a bit calmer.

“And I was no better. I just moved away and returned to my own room. I regretted that later though. Even though I still couldn’t see that she was slowly dying inside, I still loved her. So, I went back to her room at night, and cleaned and bandaged all her wounds. It took me a couple of hours to do it properly. She must have been so exhausted, she slept through all of it, probably never even noticed I was there…”

She stopped talking, clearly lost in thought for a moment, but no one dared to say anything.

“The next day, everything was back to normal, and she acted as though nothing had happened. Quite like how she did after what happened a couple of days ago. She never showed anything, probably fearing that she would attract attention if she did. Emotion was a taboo in our family. Made you weak. And the sad thing is that Nikki’s best quality is her abundance of emotion. Her empathy. And she had to swallow it all. She is so strong, and I am so proud of how long she managed it. I can’t imagine being able to do that for even a week, let alone 14 years… Though eventually, it took its toll on her, and one night, she snapped.”

She waited for a moment, clearly hesitating if she wanted to continue, or stop here. “What I’m about to tell now, is the absolute lowest point that she has ever been. But please, do not hold it against her. Do not punish her for my blindness and foolery. She deserves nothing but love.” Everyone nodded carefully, curious of about what was coming next, and how that could be any worse than what they had already heard.   

_One year later…_  
_Nikki was sitting alone in her room and looked out the window. The house was dark, and quiet, and the car was missing from the parking lot. She leaned her head on the window, and a tear rolled down her face, as she softly started to sing._

_“Happy birthday to me…_  
_Happy birthday to me…”_

_She looked down at her hands, where she was holding a stack of paper. The tearstains had wiped out parts of the ink text. With a small needle, she poked her thumb. A drop of blood fell onto the paper, and Nikki tried to focus on the pain to numb out her heartache. When it didn’t work, she carelessly threw it aside._

_She had been sitting there for most of the day, waiting for someone, anyone, to come home. But it seemed like everyone had just forgotten about her. Her parents had left early that morning, to go to some sort of concert, elsewhere in the country. They wouldn’t be coming home that night either and would sleep in a hotel. Her sister had spent the entire day with her boyfriend, and she too wouldn’t be coming home for the night._

_Meanwhile, Anastasia was not having a great night as well, as she slammed the door in Gael’s face, and walked up the streets. He didn’t even bother to come after her. Sure, couples fought, and they were sure to make up again tomorrow, but for now, she just couldn’t bear to see his stupid face again. Maybe when she got home, she could give Nikki her birthday present. She thought of the tiny teddy bear that was lying in a drawer in her room. But her real gift would come this weekend: A movie, and then dinner in her favourite sushi restaurant…_

_As she neared her home, she could see that the lights in the house were off. Strange… had Nikki already gone to bed? It was only 8 o‘clock… She got closer to the house and got of her bike. But then, in the darkness, she could see Nikki standing on the pavement, waiting for her. She absent-mindedly put her bike on the pavement, as thoughts of the fight with her boyfriend were still racing through her head._  
_“Hey Nick… You can go back inside, I’ll just put my bike in the shed, and then I’ll be right there. You want to see a movie? The new ‘Avengers’ was on tv tonight, right?”_  
_But she didn’t get an answer, and Nikki didn’t move._  
_“Nikki… How long have you been standing there…? Did you… know I was coming home?”_  
_But she still didn’t get a reply. And this was when she first looked her in her eyes. They were dark, and cold, like all the life and light had disappeared… And without even saying a single word, she attacked her._

_Anastasia let out a scream._  
_“Nikki! What are you doing? It’s me! Your sister!”_  
_She dodged out of the way, but Nikki charged her another time. She took out a knife from under her shirt and started slashing it her way. Anastasia dodged again and again, while trying to get through to her little sister, but it was clear that she wasn’t going to stop. She was going to kill her._

_Anastasia was confused, as tears sprung in her eyes._  
_“Nikki, please, stop. You don’t have to do this. I’m not going to fight you. I love you.”_  
_But Nikki responded by taking another swing at her with the knife. She drew blood, as she formed a giant slash over Anastasia’s body. She let out another scream, before she finally managed to twist back Nikki’s arm, and forced her to let go of the knife. It flew through the air and landed somewhere further down on the street. Nikki tried to move over to it, but Anastasia held her back, grabbing both her wrists, but Nikki had much more combat experience, and was a lot stronger._  
_“Nick… please… We can talk about this. I’ll call mum and dad, we can talk this through.”_  
_Nikki looked her straight in the eye, and with an unrecognisable voice she said: “No. No more talking. They will finally love me.”_  
_She gave Anastasia a firm kick, which sent her flying backwards, and she landed on her back on the hard stones. She gasped for air, but she could see that Nikki was already moving in closer. She formed a fire in her hand and was coming in to finish the job. Anastasia crawled backwards over the street, in a desperate attempt to escape Nikki, until her hand suddenly moved over something sharp. She looked down, and saw the bloodied knife lying beside her. Tears were rolling down her face, as she kept looking from the knife in her hand, to her younger sister who was coming closer to kill her. Before she even had time to think about it, she got up, and moved the knife around._

_“Ana…?”_  
_Nikki’s soft, sweet voice sounded through the street. The cold, dark look in her eyes faded, and her hands slowly moved over to her stomach, to where the knife was forced deep into her body. Anastasia was standing directly in front of her and was holding the other end with a trembling hand, and tears in her eyes._  
_“Nikki…?”_  
_But Nikki just gasped for air as she lost all strength in her legs. Anastasia caught her, and carefully moved her down to the ground._  
_“No… Nikki… please, stay with me… NO!”_  
_And Nikki closed her eyes, as Anastasia slowly felt her breath slowing down._

An eerie silence fell over the room, as the team sat there, shocked. They could not believe that anything like this had happened. They were afraid to ask anything, but they had to know. Daisy carefully asked. “How bad was it…?” Anastasia looked down at the ground.

“It’s all a bit blurry… too much happened too quickly, and I barely had time to process anything… I remember the ambulance taking her away, and then, she was just… lying there. Machines beeping, and wires all over her body, trying to keep her alive… She was in a coma for a week… And I just didn’t understand why something like this had to happen. Until I found this…” She looked down at the diary again. “I found it in my room, on my pillow. I don’t know how it got there. In the last moments before her anger consumed her, she must have put it there. That was when I realised that the only reason I was still alive was because she had been fighting it… There was a note as well. She said that she loved me, and didn’t want me to blame myself for what was about to happen… Or hold it against her” She took another deep breath, and another tear rolled down her face. “Our parents didn’t come even once… But I went there, every, single, day. And I sat by her bed for hours every time, just holding her hand, waiting for her to wake up. Gave me lots of time to think about the diary. That was when I realised that I had never told her that I loved her, but more importantly, I realised how much she had needed it. I had been so arrogant. And my sisters’ life was on the line because of it. But even if she did survive, I wondered if she’d be the same. When we grew up, we were so close, always playing together. She was so happy and joyful. But then I got older, school got more intensive, and I just didn’t hang out with her that much anymore. Her descent was so slow, I never saw her change. All I knew was that she just locked herself in her room all the time. And all this time, I just thought that it was all puberty, and she was acting like some rebellious teenager that didn’t care about us. I never once imagined that the reason that she locked herself away, was because she felt like she wasn’t wanted…”

“That’s so sad…” Simmons said quietly.

“When she woke up, she didn’t remember anything. To this day, I have never told her. She is already so harsh on herself, she would never forgive herself if she knew what she had done, it would destroy her. So please, do not ever tell her about this. She believes that she had just had some kind of accident, and it’s best if it stays that way. Anyway, everything seemed to have turned back to normal, and I was so relieved to have my little sister back, rather than that thing that I found on the pavement that night… But even though it wasn’t clear at first, I quickly found that she had been damaged by what happened. Our bedrooms were directly next to each other, and I could hear her wake up every night, screaming. At first, I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t get her to stop. She would just keep screaming and crying for an hour, before falling back to sleep exhausted. The next day, she didn’t remember it, but she’d be physically ill, that’s how horrible she felt. I decided not to make the same mistake again, and this time, I was there for her. I didn’t have much, so I just gave her what I had: that little teddy bear. It was so small, and I felt so bad that I couldn’t give her anything better, but she cherished it. I didn’t know if she could hear me during her nightly panic attacks, but one time, I just started to sing to her. And I told her everything that I had never told her. Everything that I should have had…”

“The song you sang to her tonight…” Fitz asked. Anastasia nodded.

“From that moment, every time that she woke up at night, I would give her that reminder. She still felt resentful sometimes, and I don’t blame her for that, but after a while, she let me back into her heart. And I found out that, yes, she had changed, she was not the girl I grew up with anymore. But she was beautiful. And I learned that she did have friends, a band even, and eventually, a boyfriend. Our parents and me, we never really noticed it if she was gone, but she spent a lot of time there. And I met them eventually. I didn’t even know Nikki played guitar or had such a beautiful voice. Or how kind and gentle she was. She had shielded her entire life from us… And I can’t help but feel glad that she did. Our parents would have destroyed all of it if they found out. ‘Not until her marks got better.’”

“That’s horrible!” Daisy exclaimed.  
“So were our parents…” Ana replied sadly. She looked up. “Please. Promise me that you won’t forget to tell her that she matters. And give her some new tokens. It looks like she’s going to need them…”  
“What do you mean by ‘tokens’?” Fitz asked.

“Like that little teddy bear. That cupboard that I retrieved that from is filled with stuff like that. It’s like an altar to her, or a shrine. _Never_ take anything out of there unless it’s an emergency. It may look like some random objects that don’t have anything in common – stuffed animals, photo’s, keychains, pinecones, bracelets, cards, I think there’s even a broken compass in there – but they all have a story. And they all mean the world to her. The one thing that they have in common: They were gifts. They were given to her by people she loves, but more importantly, people who love her. And not like a birthday present either. They were spontaneous gifts, and that’s what makes them so special and important. The only love that our parents ever gave her was conditional, and that was so exhausting. And even I sometimes felt like the love and praise they gave me was for a reason, and I always had to do something for it. But these things, they stand for the unconditional love that others have given her. They are like a token, which tether her to this world, remind her of the happiness and love in her life. When she has a panic attack like that, she cannot hear you, she probably won’t even realise that you’re there. But those objects… somehow, she can feel them. Words are just words, but those objects are proof that, yes, she is loved. So, since she’ll be living with you from now on, get her some that link her back to you, it might also help her open up to you. For now, let’s just go back to bed, though. And maybe try to talk to her tomorrow. She might be able to tell you more than I can.”


	6. Say goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sisters finally get their peace, and Nikki breaks down the final part of the wall standing between them.

Like Anastasia had predicted, the next morning, Nikki didn’t remember a single thing of what had happened that night. However, it was clear that she was exhausted, and felt horrible. She visited her sisters room, to talk to her in private. “It happened again, didn’t it?” She asked quietly. Anastasia didn’t say anything but pulled her sister into a sweet and warm hug, before pulling her onto the couch beside her. “Did I wake anyone?” She asked carefully. Anastasia looked her in the eye. “A couple of people. Fitz, Simmons, Leah and Daisy.” Nikki looked down at the ground, pulled up her knees and put her hands in her hair. “Shit…” She said quietly. “They weren’t supposed to know about that. Not yet anyway…” She looked back up.    
“How much did you tell them?”        
“Everything. At least, everything I could tell them, and felt like they should know. But don’t worry, they took it very well. Now they’re just worried about you. They really care for you, you know?”  
But Nikki stayed silent.       
“You should talk to them. They’re not going to judge you, and they’re not going to throw you out. Not everyone is like mum and dad, these are good people.”             
“But what do I tell them?”                 
“The truth.”

Later that day, after Anastasia had passed on the message to everyone that Nikki had wanted to see them, they were all sitting in Nikki’s room, talking. In a way, it was a strange situation. Nikki had always been the one who lend an ear to whomever wanted to get something off their chest, and she never asked for anything in return. But now, she was the one doing the talking, and she wasn’t holding anything back. She retold the story that her sister had told them last night, though from her perspective. Yet since she couldn’t remember the night that she had almost killed her sister, her story was slightly different. But that wasn’t the point of this talk anyway. She just needed to take a leap of faith and trust her new friends. She had always kept her vulnerabilities in the dark, but now it was time to show them, and to accept them.                
“Sometimes I’m just afraid that I’m going to end up just like them, you know?” She said softly.       
“Why?” Daisy asked. “You are nothing like that! Why would you even think that?”            
“Because I’ve been damaged… That’s something that can’t be undone. Some scars cannot heal, and maybe they’ll corrupt me one day.”                
Leah moved over and sat down next to her, pulling her into a hug.  
“Yeah, sure. You’re damaged. You’re not perfect. And to be honest, sometimes you really drive me crazy-”              
“Leah!” Simmons shouted, but Leah continued.          
“But that goes for everyone here. Nikki, please don’t ever forget: you’re the manure from which pretty flowers grow. They are just a piece of shit.”   
It was the strangest compliment that she had ever heard, but that was exactly why it worked, and Nikki started to giggle.  
“Thanks, Leah.”     
“Anytime.”          

Nikki got up and walked over to the cupboard from which Ana had retrieved the teddy bear that night. She opened it. She showed them the contents and told them all about the stories behind them. They were surprised to see that they recognised some of the objects. “Wait, I gave you this blanket, didn’t I? You were really cold that one night, so I fetched this for you. I was wondering where that went…” Daisy said confused. “Sorry...” Nikki replied. “I thought it was just a simple blanket. I didn’t even realise that maybe I was supposed to give it back…” “Oh, no, that’s okay. But, like you said, it’s just a simple old blanket. How did this end up between your ‘tokens’? I just didn’t want you to be cold, so I thought it would be a normal, and natural thing to get you an extra blanket.” Nikki gave a weak smile. “And because it was so natural and spontaneous, _that_ is wat makes it so special.” Fitz and Simmons also found a couple of things they knew to be from some of the team members. All just little, worthless things, but Nikki treated them with all the care in the world.

To their greatest surprise, at one point they also found something that Nikki claimed to be her mother’s.                
“Not meaning to be rude, but, why do you keep that in here? Wasn’t your mother horrible to you? Doesn’t this bring back horrible memories?” Leah asked carefully.         
Nikki shook her head, and carefully placed the little statue back.  
“Well, yeah, I suppose. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about this thing… I mean, I was a lot younger when she gave this to me, maybe 4 years old, but it was out of love. She wasn’t all bad.”  
She turned around.             
“From what your sister told us, she was horrible!”      
“Perhaps… But she was still my mother. I don’t hate her. I mean, I _did_ hate her… for a while… but then I realised that that wasn’t going to get me anywhere. No one is just purely evil, and I’m sure that there was a lot more to her than that she was showing me. Same for my dad. So, I forgave them.”   
“Sorry if I’m asking the obvious… but how can you just forgive someone for that? You don’t have to do that, you know? They hurt you. They don’t deserve forgiveness.” Daisy said carefully.       
Nikki took a deep breath.   
“I think that the common misconception that people make about forgiveness, is that you forgive someone to do the other person a favour. You don’t. You forgive someone, because _you_ yourself benefit from that as well. I don’t like being angry. I hate it. Makes me feel absolutely horrible. I don’t want to hold a grudge against someone. It only takes up time, energy, and happiness…            
Besides, who will eventually benefit from it? It won’t make me happy, it won’t make them happy, and it won’t make anyone else who had anything to do with the situation happy. It just spreads a lot of pain and suffering and creates a rift between people. And just say that I was still angry, what do I have to gain from that? Some sort of weird satisfaction? And then what? Profits?”            
She shook her head.            
“And this goes for any situation. Anytime you think you should be angry with someone. What’s the use? I remember at some time, I had a friend who really screwed me over. I was _so angry_ with him. And then, half a year later, he texted me, saying that he was really sorry, and wanted to make up. And I agreed to meet. We just had a normal conversation about what happened. No pain, no anger, just a rational conversation about who did what wrong. And yes, eventually I did decide that I didn’t want to see him anymore, and I cut him out of my life, but not before we had ended our fight in a respectful, grown-up way. And he completely understood my decision. We talked, we laughed, he thanked me for hearing him out, and that was the last I ever saw of him. But the loose ends were tied up, we had talked about it, and we could both move on with our lives. You can be angry with people all you like, and fights will always happen. But never attack someone’s self-worth. Stay respectful, stay calm, and stay rational. Not only will that prevent you from hurting others, but you’ll find an inner calm that you’ve never known before. Forgive… Grow from it… and then let go.”

After everyone had left, Nikki headed back to her sisters’ room, only to find it empty. Literally empty. The sheets had been taken of the bed, and all personal belongings had gone. Nikki rushed out of the room, and ran through the base, only to find Ana in Coulson’s office. She burst into the room, cutting Coulson off mid-sentence. “Ana?” She asked, confused. Then she noticed the packed bags standing on the floor. “You’re leaving?” She added softly. Anastasia walked over to her, and took her hand, not sure of what to say. “We decided that it might be best if I don’t stay here permanently…” She said quietly. Coulson interrupted. “She told me about the past you two have. I’m sorry Nicole, but if you want to be an asset to this team, I need you sharp, and apparently, this is a problem.” He had said it very kindly, to make sure that it was clear to Nikki that this was indeed the best solution. Anastasia continued. “Nick… this is your world, not mine. You may have always felt like you were in my shadow, but now, I’m in yours. You are far more valuable to these people than I am. It’s time that I find my own place. My own home…”        
Nikki burst into tears. “But Ana, I love you. You’re all that I have left. Don’t leave me, please…”       
“I know Nikki, but we both know that if I stay, I would only be holding you back. You can do extraordinary things, but the only way to move forward is to let go of the things that are holding you back. You need to set yourself free. As long as I am here, you can’t do that. I love you so much Nikki, and that’s exactly why I am giving you your best shot here...”            
“But where will you go?” Nikki asked through her tears.            
Anastasia pulled herself back together and put on a brave and determined face.                
“I am 18 and have a PhD in microbiology. Agent Simmons has pulled some strings and got me into contact with some other biologists. They offered me a job, starting tomorrow. They already payed me some part in advance so I could rent an apartment there. Don’t worry about me, Nick. I’ll be fine.”  
“Can I at least visit?” Nikki asked.     
Ana pulled her into a big hug.           
“I will be looking forward to those days with all my heart.”

At the end of the day, she was gone, but not before Nikki had given her something very special. Some people would have found it weird to return a gift, but for Nikki to part with one of her tokens was a very special gesture. And Ana held the little teddy bear gently in her hand as she walked out the base, now having a token of her own, that would forever safekeep the love between the two sisters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading part 2 of my story. If you liked it, please continue to part 3. In this part, they will go to the Netherlands, to find an 084. They will meet some of Nikki's old friends as well, but not everything is what it seems...
> 
> The fourth, and (so far) final part will have a lot more action, and interesting reveals. This is the biggest part of the story, and the one that I personally am the most proud of. I would be honoured if you read it, and tell me what you think.


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